1. |
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I see it in the corner of my eye
The way the setting sun casts an orange glow tonight
And up among the tallest of the trees
I saw a yellow leaf revealed on the evening breeze
And now I walk along familiar streets
But all the normal things seem a little strange
They flicker in the fading summer heat
And there’s a new world coming underneath
There is a new word in every mouth that you meet
It’s knocking at your door
It creaks across the floor
It settles in the eaves
And soon it will be clear enough for you to see
It’s Halloween
So go pick out your pumpkin
And carve it on the floor
And light it in the evening
For one you’re waiting for
And as the flame burns down inside it
Paper lanterns line the lawn
Hear them howling in the distance
Until the night turns into dawn
Then they’ll be gone
The neighborhood is quiet
Save the barking of a dog
On the porches eyes are glowing
Jack o’ lanterns in the fog
Will the dead come back to haunt us?
Will they stagger in the street?
Dressed in rotting rags of cotton
Is it real or just a dream?
This Halloween….
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2. |
Black Cat
04:48
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When I was nine years old
A black cat crossed the road
On the night of Halloween
While we were trick or treating
He got hit by a car
That took the turn too hard
And then the driver stopped
She came around the block
And ran up to our dad
Clearly very sad
And pulled him to the side
We could see that she was crying
He told us to sit tight
And they went off out of sight
We didn’t have a clue
What they had gone to do
But we didn’t mind
Being left behind
In the magic of that night
With witches walking by
And jack o’ lanterns all around
And leaves along the ground
And candy in our mouths
Looking up at all the houses
And then our dad came back
And told us about the cat
We thought it was a prank
What else could we think?
But he said no guys it’s real
It ran under the wheels
It’s really pretty gross
And ilf want to I can show you
So of course we both agreed
And soon down at our feet
Was the body of a cat
Almost completely flat
I’ll spare you all the rest
But what I remember best
Was the whole ball of its eye
Unblinking at the sky
And in that moment on that street
Where all those points did meet
Were we just there to observe
That tragedy occur?
Or did we play some bigger part
Five figures in the darkness
Of that great world in between
On the night of Halloween
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3. |
The King Alone
01:45
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The king of Halloween
Stands under the evergreen
With eyes of make-believe
And corn for his yellow teeth
He watches the revelry
Alone in his mystery
An end to infinity
And a friend to nobody
With bones at his wooden feet
His throne is an empty seat
And covered in fallen leaves
He sleeps in eternity
He dreams in ecstasy
And sings out a melody
To all of the in-between
To let go of everything
And come home
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4. |
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There’s an evening when all the horses of the dead
Ride across the sky above our heads
While we sleep away in quiet beds
With the covers over
And we’ll wake up
To find the winter’s hung its ice up
Upon the trees where all the leaves were
The autumn breeze brought on a fever
But we remember
The cider
The feeling of the fall
The quiet fires
And all the holy things
That it brings
And on that evening
The horses of the dead will stretch out
The bones along their ragged necks while
Their rotting hearts beat in their chests
As they gallop over
And their riders
The friends who used to share our cider
The loves we traveled through our lives with
Will nod along with hollow eyes
But do they remember
The warm days
The feeling of the spring
The sounds the earth makes
And all the holy things
That it brings
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5. |
No One Ever Comes
02:18
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There is a house on Halloween
Where no one really goes
Where broken things lie in the weeds
And curtains hide the windows
It stands alone along its street
Of tidy, happy homes
As though it’s spent the years asleep
Or buried in the snow
The folks they mostly pass it by
And go about their days
And there it sits in no one’s mind
Unnoticed in the haze
But every year as summer ends
A new wind moves the trees
And then you’ll hear the neighbors talk
While raking up their leaves
A woman lived there long ago
Some say that she still might
And all the kids on Halloween
They say they see a light
They say that it must be her ghost
That walks the moldy halls
As though the very house itself
Had birthed her from its walls
But could it be some other thing
Perhaps not so surreal
But truly worse in every way
For what it might reveal
Oh, could it be that there she works
Sweeping up her floor
Waiting for a group of kids
To walk up to the door
They’d ring her bell and there she’d stand
In costume nice and neat
And she would place in every hand
A simple homemade sweet
For them she’d twirl in her dress
Embroidered orange and black
And all the kids would pet her friend
A little tabby cat
They would smile and fill her heart up
For the coming cold
Such little things can mean so much
When you’re very old
And in that house, on that street
Among the falling leaves
One faint light can still be seen
Peaking through the trees
But as the evening settles in
And retires with the sun
That one faint at last goes out
And no one ever comes
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6. |
Reanimate It
03:49
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How many times can you reanimate it
Before it starts to lose its shape?
How many volts can you channel through it
How much longer can it take?
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7. |
The King of Halloween
04:50
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I am the king of Halloween
The world I see means more to me today
And when all the things of Halloween
are put away
I’ll fall apart and decay
The mirror maze of memory
Projects itself near perfectly
Onto the haze that lies between
The living world and make believe
And there I’ll look across my kingdom
Built upon a changing season
Founded in the falling leaves when
The summer birds find southern breezes
Lapping at the milk of midnight
Waxing in the purple moonlight
Waiting for the day to come when
Dead eyes will watch the setting sun
And dead hands will drag their rotting bodies
Howling down the haunted hallways
And I will ride my bloody mare with
Dead flowers in my wild hair
And the sky will fill with souls returning
Calling out a somber warning
To all of those below your lives are yours
Only for a short time
And as the night dreams up the morning
They’ll fall into the frost that’s forming
Along the lawns as winter opens
Its eyes up for the first time
And I will stand alone again with
Pink blooms of mold across my skin
As my hollow head is caving in
I will contemplate a question
To be alive for just a day
To hear children laughing as they play
And see constellations in the night sky
A day, a year, a lifetime
And as I overlook its ending
I wish that I were just beginning
It all will slip away so fast
And as I fade out I will ask you
Was one enough?
Is two enough?
Is there enough?
If four enough?
Is five enough?
Is six enough…
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ben survant Asheville, North Carolina
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